Why can't I access a folder even though I have permissions?

fatfrogger · Nov 15, 2011

Ok here goes.

Our network in school is Windows based. I have one of two macs in the school, the other belonging to one of my staff... therefore this is something that we both need fixing.

Until a month or two ago, we had administrator rights to the network, so this issue wasn't present, however due to an internal overtake of the IT Support dept, this is no longer possible.

Our Windows file server is structured as follows:

File Server

Shared
StaffShared
Users$:

Pupils:

Intake 07:

000123 (Student's Username)

Intake 06 (and so on)

Staff:

first.surname (and so on)

When I connect to the file server using my non-administrator credentials, I can see the "Shared" and "Staff Shared" folders, however Users$ isn't there (Because obviously the $ makes it hidden). My credentials only give me permission to my Home Drive: /Fileserver/Users$/Staff/first.surname. I don't have permission for the parent directories Users$ and Staff!

With Windows, I can put the path to my HomeDirectory into Run and then authenticate with my credentials and it works! But I can't do this with my Mac... My original intention was to actually set these up to mount via AppleScript, so that I could have Staff Shared, Shared, and my Home drive (inside Users$/Staff) mounted with one click.

Shared and Staff Shared mount without issue this way, but I can't for love nor money mount my home drive. Even If i set the full path of my home drive up, It tries to Mount, and instead mounts the Users$ directory, but it has the little No Entry sign and I can't open it.

Does anybody have any suggestions?

(also code for AppleScript would be appreciated, I'm a bit new to AppleScript)

PS. IT Support won't be able to help because they have no clue about Macs!

Cheers
Joe

rwwest7 · Nov 15, 2011

Macs dont like going more than one level deep on the share. Not Microsofts fault. Needs to be \\server\share\homedirectory

fatfrogger · Nov 17, 2011

rwwest7 said:
Macs dont like going more than one level deep on the share. Not Microsofts fault. Needs to be \\server\share\homedirectory

Thanks for the advice, however unfortunately that doesn't solve my problem!

We can't move all the user directories for our thousands of students/staff for the sake of two of us!

The issue is, I don't have permissions to access the Share.

Any way around this?

JM

rwwest7 · Nov 17, 2011

fatfrogger said:
Thanks for the advice, however unfortunately that doesn't solve my problem!

We can't move all the user directories for our thousands of students/staff for the sake of two of us!

The issue is, I don't have permissions to access the Share.

Any way around this?

JM

I'm speaking from experience! You don't have to move anything, just create another share. If you share out Staff you can still have Users$ shared. Then map to it as //server.domain.com/staff/YourFolder . Do you bind to AD from the Mac?

Vudoo · Nov 17, 2011

Is the firewall on the Mac turned on?

fatfrogger · Nov 28, 2011

rwwest7 said:
I'm speaking from experience! You don't have to move anything, just create another share. If you share out Staff you can still have Users$ shared. Then map to it as //server.domain.com/staff/YourFolder . Do you bind to AD from the Mac?

The IT Dept are less than willing to assist us as senior management authorised the Macs and they were not consulted...

Consequently, the Mac is nothing to do with the Domain/AD.

Vudoo said:
Is the firewall on the Mac turned on?

Just checked, No it isn't.

EDIT:
When I attempt to 'Connect to Server' in Finder, putting the full path in, I am then prompted for credentials. Once these have been provided, I get;
The folder “Users$” can’t be opened because you don’t have permission to see its contents.

Regards
JM

Les Kern · Nov 28, 2011

A while back I read where SMB is borked in Lion. You running Lion? If so, you are not alone. At that time there were no workarounds. Might want to Google that. I tried it at home and never did figure out how to connect to my XP or W7 machine, hence my search on the subject. Had to set up a Mac server to share files between the two, using a Mini as an intermediate stop. Pissed me off.

Vudoo · Nov 28, 2011

fatfrogger said:
...
EDIT:
When I attempt to 'Connect to Server' in Finder, putting the full path in, I am then prompted for credentials. Once these have been provided, I get;
The folder Users$ cant be opened because you dont have permission to see its contents.

Regards
JM

The $ after Users usually indicates a hidden share. If you create a public share folder with everyone having full permissions, can you connect from the Mac?

fatfrogger · Nov 29, 2011

Vudoo said:
The $ after Users usually indicates a hidden share. If you create a public share folder with everyone having full permissions, can you connect from the Mac?

You mean to try to connect to a directory maybe three deep with permissions for all the directories on the way?

I could connect into a folder of one of the shared drives and see if I can make that work. I'll try on Thursday. Thanks for the idea.

Jm

rwwest7 · Nov 29, 2011

fatfrogger said:
The IT Dept are less than willing to assist us as senior management authorised the Macs and they were not consulted...

Consequently, the Mac is nothing to do with the Domain/AD.

Just checked, No it isn't.

EDIT:
When I attempt to 'Connect to Server' in Finder, putting the full path in, I am then prompted for credentials. Once these have been provided, I get;
The folder Users$ cant be opened because you dont have permission to see its contents.

Regards
JM

Are you in IT or management? Does senior management out rank IT in your organization? Why is IT so afraid of Macs? You would think they would be open to better things and new challenges.

Bottom line is you're not going to make this work without help from IT, permissions on the share need changed. No other way around it. You likely only have traverse permission on the Users$ folder (which works great with Windows for security purposes), that should be bumped up to "Read - This folder only". That...or create a new share point like I advised earlier.

Mac_Max · Nov 30, 2011

rwwest7 said:
Are you in IT or management? Does senior management out rank IT in your organization? Why is IT so afraid of Macs? You would think they would be open to better things and new challenges.
...

I'm guessing the OP is a teacher or other faculty member.

The reality is that they probably don't want to bother setting up something special for a couple users which is actually reasonable however annoying it might be. They could also be less flexible because of internal politics and/or they don't like Macs or at least don't want to manage two/three different platforms. At work our IT department hates the fact we have computers on XP 32bit, XP 64bit, Server 2003 64bit, Vista 64bit, and Win 7 64bit. Really the problems fall into Win XP/Win Vista/Win Vista & Win 7 problems, but having to keep track of three different sets of fixes for things is kinda annoying.

I'm not sure how important the issue is, but you could try Dave and see if it works:

http://www.thursby.com/products/dave.html

They have a free trial I believe.

monyker · May 1, 2012

fatfrogger said:
The IT Dept are less than willing to assist us as senior management authorised the Macs and they were not consulted...

Regards
JM

I think you'll have to agree that karma is a b*tch!
You got exactly what you deserved.

----------

rwwest7 said:
Why is IT so afraid of Macs? You would think they would be open to better things and new challenges.

I don't think fear has anything to do with it. Very likely it has everything to do with the fact they weren't consulted in the first place.
By the way, different isn't necessarily better...just different.

rwwest7 · May 16, 2012

The IT dept does work for senior management, does it not?

By the way, I work in an IT dept. And I know a lot of people who are scared to death of new things or ideas. If it were up to them we'd all be running Win 98 SE still.

Mattie Num Nums · May 16, 2012

rwwest7 said:
Are you in IT or management? Does senior management out rank IT in your organization? Why is IT so afraid of Macs? You would think they would be open to better things and new challenges.

Bottom line is you're not going to make this work without help from IT, permissions on the share need changed. No other way around it. You likely only have traverse permission on the Users$ folder (which works great with Windows for security purposes), that should be bumped up to "Read - This folder only". That...or create a new share point like I advised earlier.

We (IT) aren't afraid of Macs. Apple gives us ZERO resources for properly managing Macs. Don't blame IT. Blame Apple.

With that said some Apple Engineers, like myself, have found ways around it but it takes time. Its a cultural shift. It took 3 years of lobbying, analysis, RIO, etc. to finally get my company (Fortune 50) to finally buy in (and they bought in by tipping their toe nails in the water.)

monyker · May 30, 2012

rwwest7 said:
The IT dept does work for senior management, does it not?

And therein lies the problem with IT in so many organisations. It's viewed as a problem to control/quash instead of as a partner in meeting the "ends" of the organisation. I'm sick and tired of dinosaur execs that can't manage a simple home network but think they've got what it takes to make good unilateral decisions regarding corporate networks/systems and expect IT to simply fall in line. It is imperative that organisations have checks and balances in place to establish mutual accountability between IT and senior management, to encourage innovation and discourage either from running amok.

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Why can't I access a folder even though I have permissions?

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